Abstract

Until recently our approach to the analysis of human genetic diseases has been to accurately phenotype patients and sequence the genes known to be associated with those phenotypes; for example, analysing the globin loci in cases of thalassemia. As sequencing has become increasingly accessible, a larger panel of genes is now analysed and whole exome/genome sequencing is applied in cases where no variants are found in the candidate genes. Using such approaches in patients with unexplained anemias, we have discovered that a broad range of hitherto unrelated human red cell disorders are caused by variants in KLF1, a master regulator of erythropoiesis, previously considered to be extremely rare causes of human genetic disease.